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Buccin
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The buccin is a visually distinctive trombone popularized in military bands in France between 1810–1845 which subsequently faded into obscurity.
The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians devotes but two sentences to the buccin: “A form of trombone with a bell terminating in a stylized serpent’s or dragon’s head, often with a metal tongue, free to flap, protruding. Hector Berlioz scored for buccin in the Kyrie and Resurrexit of his Messe solennelle of 1824.”
The exact date of the invention of the buccin (which should not be confused by another instrument of the same name, invented in France in 1791, which was modeled after ancient Roman instruments which could deliver only three distinct notes) has not been documented and apart from Berlioz’s Messe, there is little in the way of surviving music for it.
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Encyclopedia
The buccin is a visually distinctive trombone popularized in military bands in France between 1810–1845 which subsequently faded into obscurity.
The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians devotes but two sentences to the buccin: “A form of trombone with a bell terminating in a stylized serpent’s or dragon’s head, often with a metal tongue, free to flap, protruding. Hector Berlioz scored for buccin in the Kyrie and Resurrexit of his Messe solennelle of 1824.”
The exact date of the invention of the buccin (which should not be confused by another instrument of the same name, invented in France in 1791, which was modeled after ancient Roman instruments which could deliver only three distinct notes) has not been documented and apart from Berlioz’s Messe, there is little in the way of surviving music for it. Yet we do know that the buccin was popularized in military bands in France between 1810–1845. Parades, outdoor festivals and civic celebrations were an important part of French cultural life from the time of the Revolution (1789) through most of the 19th century. The visual appeal of band members in uniform playing instruments with zoomorphic heads (in addition to the buccin, serpents, bass horns, bassoons and Russian bassoons—a form of upright serpent—all were made with decorative bells) was indisputable and manufacturers were quick to supply more and more exotic designs. The buccin bell was often vividly painted red, green and gold and the protruding metal tongue included by many makers would flap while marching and playing.
The sound of the buccin is something of a cross between a trombone and a French horn. At soft volumes it has a very warm, delicate sound because the bell is made of hammered tin or very thin brass. But it is also capable of an extreme fortissimo. Not everyone agrees on how to pronounce the name of the instrument, with variants including “boo-san”, “bue-san”, “boo-seen” and “buck-sin.”
When the International Trombone Association was founded in 1972, it chose the buccin for its logo, after an instrument owned by New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Lyon (France) seems to have been a center of buccin manufacturing with buccins made there currently on display in Paris (Dubois & Couturier) and Boston (Tabard). The photo above shows Douglas Yeo with a buccin made by another Lyon maker, François Sautermeister (c. 1830) that was restored in 2004 (and a new slide made after historical models) by James Becker of . Beautiful buccins by Guichard (Paris) are on display in Edinburgh and Brussels and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has an extensive collection of buccins made in France, Italy and Belgium. John Webb, an English maker, has made modern reproduction buccins, one of which may be heard played by Ben Peck of on Clifford Bevan's "Les Mots de Berlioz" on the CD . Stephen Wick played buccin on the premier recording of Berlioz’s Messe under John Eliot Gardiner.
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